[B0ycey]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-59526252

Seems the WHO have put the breaks on Omicron being the next beasty. They have even had to tell the world not to panic. Seems the data isn't out yet that makes out that its more transmissible let alone deadly. But I guess the world doesn't think that way. All we hear now on Covid is Omicron and governments are shutting their borders because of it. I wonder if the message that we have to live with this virus has sunk in yet? Or whether we will be discussing the Omega variant next year and the WHO has to issue another don't panic statement.

[Rancid]

[Potemkin]

[Rancid]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-59526252

Seems the WHO have put the breaks on Omicron being the next beasty. They have even had to tell the world not to panic. Seems the data isn't out yet that makes out that its more transmissible let alone deadly. But I guess the world doesn't think that way. All we hear now on Covid is Omicron and governments are shutting their borders because of it. I wonder if the message that we have to live with this virus has sunk in yet? Or whether we will be discussing the Omega variant next year and the WHO has to issue another don't panic statement.

No server cases, hospitalizations, and deaths reported in the US.

Let her rip.

[late]

Seems the WHO have put the breaks on Omicron being the next beasty.

One of the jobs the CDC has is avoiding panic. I used to tell kids they could survive almost anything. But if they panicked on the prettiest day they'd ever seen, they could easily kill themselves in seconds.

We just don't know. After getting hammered by Covid repeatedly, epidemiologists are going to be very, very cautious.

Because billions haven't been vaccinated, new variants are guaranteed to happen. So even if this is not as deadly, it can evolve into something deadly.

If they could be honest, they'd say: 'F***ed if I know, come back in a few weeks when we've figured it out'.

This is going to keep happening, you know, until we get most of the planet vaccinated...

[wat0n]

Chances are that COVID will evolve into something milder if anything, but I hope the vaccination effort ramps up so travel can resume as normal.

[B0ycey]

We just don't know. After getting hammered by Covid repeatedly, epidemiologists are going to be very, very cautious.

Because billions haven't been vaccinated, new variants are guaranteed to happen. So even if this is not as deadly, it can evolve into something deadly.

Viruses tend to evolve to become less deadly, given there isn't an advantage for them to kill their host. We never got rid of the Spanish Flu. Or the plague FYI. And given the rate of replication, even if you vaccinated the world, it won't ever be fast enough to stop mutations, not that the efficency rate is 100% I might add. Which means we are going to have to live with the virus. And its been two years now, if we are going to do these silly things like close everything up and (in continental Europe at least) return back to lockdowns then we haven't learnt anything have we.

But sure epidemiologists are being very very cautious. Haven't they been from the start with their very very inaccurate models? It isn't in their self interest to be under cautious. Nobody shoots the messenger with good news, only on bad news. It takes rational thought to make out what this virus really needs in terms of a reaction. And perhaps that is where the WHO is at now. It isn't like Covid is a zero sum game. When you save a Covid death, you compensate that with another health issue. And really I guess that is why they are asking people not to panic. They clearly are looking at data and not seeing anything we should be panicking over. And certainly not if it means effecting peoples mental health.

[Rich]

Some of the liberals have raised the phrase grow up, which is funny because that's exactly how I've felt about the the Lockdown Liberals since the start, "Grow up you bunch of pathetic narcissists!"

They've been whining again "Oh we don't want Omicron variant". Well exactly which variant do you want retards? Because if you don't want a variant or variants to spread, you have to allow another variant or variants to spread. It should have been obvious from very early on that the China virus was not going to be stopped or eradicated. The Liberals hypocrites with their we all in this together bollocks never even tried to deal with this on a world level. They went for vaccine apartheid. If their claims about the vaccines had been true then they would have been consigning tens of millions to their deaths and tens if not hundreds of millions to long term illness.

The truth is the non western world has had no where near the levels of deaths that were predicted, despite having far, far less costly pharmaceutical-sickness industrial complexes, shorter lock downs, far less social distancing and much later and less extensive vaccine programmes.

[late]

Viruses tend to evolve to become less deadly

Covid didn't get the memo..

[B0ycey]

Covid didn't get the memo..

I would say it already has.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-04-08/covid-19-is-about-to-become-a-much-less-deadly-disease

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2252699-covid-19-is-becoming-less-deadly-in-europe-but-we-dont-know-why/amp/

https://www.cleveland.com/coronavirus/2021/11/when-will-covid-19-be-over-never-experts-say-but-it-will-get-milder-less-deadly-over-time.html%3foutputType=amp

https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2021/12/03/omicron-variant-raising-no-red-flags-as-authorities-prepare-for-outbreak/%3foutputType=amp

There are no red flags with Omicron. However one pandemic which never goes away, especially in regards to you and to some extent some others on PoFo, is fear porn. That shit seems to get worse the better the data in regards of Covid become. Ironic.

[late]

I would say it already has.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-04-08/covid-19-is-about-to-become-a-much-less-deadly-disease

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2252699-covid-19-is-becoming-less-deadly-in-europe-but-we-dont-know-why/amp/

https://www.cleveland.com/coronavirus/2021/11/when-will-covid-19-be-over-never-experts-say-but-it-will-get-milder-less-deadly-over-time.html%3foutputType=amp

https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2021/12/03/omicron-variant-raising-no-red-flags-as-authorities-prepare-for-outbreak/%3foutputType=amp

There are no red flags with Omicron. However one pandemic which never goes away, especially in regards to you and to some extent some others on PoFo, is fear porn. That shit seems to get worse the better the data in regards of Covid become. Ironic.

That would be great, but as I pointed out before, there is a massive reservoir within which it will keep breeding new variants. So 9 out of 10 may be fine, but the tenth could still rip your ass off.

You can call it anything you like. But I had polio as a kid, I've had cancer, and I grew up with my grandparents who sometimes talked about what life was like in the early 1900s. It's hair curling stuff.

So I am not blase about disease.

[B0ycey]

That would be great, but as I pointed out before, there is a massive reservoir within which it will keep breeding new variants. So 9 out of 10 may be fine, but the tenth could still rip your ass off.

You can call it anything you like. But I had polio as a kid, I've had cancer, and I grew up with my grandparents who sometimes talked about what life was like in the early 1900s. It's hair curling stuff.

So I am not blase about disease.

The irony is Polio, if it was a new virus, would be something far more worse than Covid. And yet, the reaction was never the same when Polio was widespread. But whatever. Covid isn't mutating to a deadlier form. And there is no reason to believe it will. Certainly not history. So why the fear porn?

And yes, in principle Covid could mutate to a deadlier form. There is no evolution advantage to that, but in principle it could. But the same could be said for a cold and flu virus. They too could "rip your ass off" with a deadlier variant. And yet, pre Covid, nobody was talking about lockdowns over them. So you can see my skepticism. We have to live with this virus, take the vaccine, do whatever is needed and move on. We either learn to live the virus or we don't. But Covid isn't going away and lockdowns clearly don't work in getting rid of it. So we either 'Eat Sleep Repeat" every single year or we actually listen to the World Health Organisation and not panic. I guess I stand with the WHO.

[late]

And yet, the reaction was never the same when Polio was widespread.

You weren't there.

https://www.history.com/news/polio-fear-post-wwii-era

[wat0n]

Yeah, what the hell @B0ycey? Polio was feared before a vaccine was finally discovered. And honestly you'd rather get COVID than polio.

[B0ycey]

Yeah, what the hell @B0ycey? Polio was feared before a vaccine was finally discovered. And honestly you'd rather get COVID than polio.

Perhaps read what I wrote, rather than the response and strawman Late gave which incidently was one of his pointless one liners. I never said people didn't fear Polio. And I certainly didn't say I would rather have Covid than Polio (which as it happens I would). What I said was the reaction wasn't the same. That is to say we didn't close off borders and lockdown businesses, stopped people working, you know the usual BS we are having now. People just carried on.

[wat0n]

Perhaps read what I wrote, rather than the response and strawman Late gave which incidently was one of his pointless one liners. I never said people didn't fear Polio. And I certainly didn't say I would rather have Covid than Polio (which as it happens I would). What I said was the reaction wasn't the same. That is to say we didn't close off borders and lockdown businesses, stopped people working, you know the usual BS we are having now. People just carried on.

But that also had to do with the particularities of polio. You mentioned the Spanish flu, well, the measures at the time were fairly similar to those taken in 2020.

[Rancid]

SET THE OMICRON FREE!!!

[B0ycey]

[

You mentioned the Spanish flu, well, the measures at the time were fairly similar to those taken in 2020.

Actually, apart from San Francisco, no, no they weren't. However talking about the Spanish Flu, the whole episode lasted two years and had 10 times more deaths in the same period. I guess sometimes we need to have perspective.

I don't know whether or not lockdowns would have saved any more lives a century ago or whether they would do what seems to be the case today and merely delayed those deaths. But what I do know is if they didn't let the virus rip, it would have been going on for far longer than two years and the weaken mutation may have never came about. Also are you aware the deadly variant of the Spanish flu was due to the isolation of the trenches. How ironic.

[late]

Actually, apart from San Francisco, no, no they weren't. However talking about the Spanish Flu, the whole episode lasted two years and had 10 times more deaths in the same period. I guess sometimes we need to have perspective.

I don't know whether or not lockdowns would have saved any more lives a century ago or whether they would do what seems to be the case today and merely delayed those deaths. But what I do know is if they didn't let the virus rip, it would have been going on for far longer than two years and the weaken mutation may have never came about. Also are you aware the deadly variant of the Spanish flu was due to the isolation of the trenches. How ironic.

Actually, the cities that did take measures to restrict contact recovered from the Spanish flu a lot faster..

I get the feeling that you've got something bass ackwards.

[B0ycey]

Actually, the cities that did take measures to restrict contact recovered from the Spanish flu a lot faster..

I get the feeling that you've got something bass ackwards.

Recovered? Don't you mean opened up and got caught with their pants down?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1191141

The only success lockdowns did for SF was "flatten the curve". That was they didn't get overwhelmed in a shorter period and had it over a sustained period. But they didn't recover quicker. They had it last longer. You don't prevent deaths. You only delay them. Which is why when the pandemic first began were talking about flattening the curve, then the goalposts moved and it was about saving every single life, next it was down to stopping cases and finally it is all about new variants. When will the fear porn stop?